California’s BOE-502-A Preliminary Change of Ownership Report is a one-page disclosure the buyer files with the County Recorder at the same time a deed or other transfer document is recorded. It tells the county assessor who now owns the property, what was paid, and whether the transfer qualifies for an exclusion from reassessment. Filing it at recording is not strictly mandatory, but skipping it adds a $20 fee and almost guarantees a longer follow-up questionnaire from the assessor with much steeper penalties attached.
When You Need to File One
Under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 480.3, the transferee is expected to complete and file a PCOR with every conveyance presented for recording.1California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 480.3 That sweeps in most everyday transfers:
- Traditional purchases of residential or commercial property recorded by grant deed.
- Gifts, where no money changes hands but title moves.
- Transfers into or out of a revocable or irrevocable trust, and distributions of trust property to beneficiaries.
- Transfers to heirs, or title changes triggered by a co-owner’s death.
- Creation, assignment, or termination of a lease with 35 or more years remaining, including written options.
- Contracts of sale that shift the benefits of ownership without a formal deed.
The form itself lists these categories as checkboxes, so matching your transaction to one is straightforward.2California State Board of Equalization. Preliminary Change of Ownership Report
A handful of recorded documents are exempt. Trustee’s deeds upon sale following a foreclosure auction, deeds in lieu of foreclosure, easements, and certain affidavits of death when the decedent was a beneficiary under a deed of trust normally do not require a PCOR, and the recorder should not charge the $20 non-filing fee in those cases.
Getting the Form
The California Board of Equalization posts a sample BOE-502-A on its website, and most county recorders and assessors publish their own locally formatted versions.3California State Board of Equalization. Property Tax Forms for Use by County Assessors Offices and Local Appeals Boards Either is acceptable. In a typical home purchase, the escrow or title company includes a blank PCOR in the signing package, so most buyers never track it down themselves.
Filling Out the Form
The BOE-502-A has a header block, Part 1 (Transfer Information), and Part 2 (Other Transfer Information). The buyer, not the seller, completes and signs it, and an agent cannot sign on the buyer’s behalf.2California State Board of Equalization. Preliminary Change of Ownership Report
Header and Property Identification
Start with the Assessor’s Parcel Number. The APN is the unique number the county assigns to the parcel, and you can pull it from the most recent property tax bill, the preliminary title report, or the recorded deed. Enter the full legal names of the transferor and transferee, the mailing address where tax bills should go, the date of the transfer, and the recording document number if you already have one.
Part 1: Transfer Type and Exclusions
Part 1 is where you tell the assessor whether the transfer qualifies for an exclusion from reassessment, and checking the right box is the most consequential step on the form. It is your first notice to the assessor that the property should keep its existing tax base rather than be reappraised at current market value. The main categories include:
- Interspousal transfers, including adding or removing a spouse from title, transfers incident to divorce, and transfers caused by a spouse’s death. Registered domestic partner transfers are treated the same way.2California State Board of Equalization. Preliminary Change of Ownership Report
- Revocable trust transfers, where the transferor can revoke the trust and is its beneficiary.
- Transfers resulting from a joint tenant’s or co-owner’s death. The form asks for the date of death.
- Transfers pursuant to a court order or divorce settlement.
Part 1 also asks for the total purchase price or the value of any non-sale consideration such as property exchanged. For a gift, note that no consideration was paid. Get this figure right, because if the transfer does trigger reassessment, the assessor uses it to set the new base year value.
Part 2: Financing and Use
Part 2 covers the nature of the transaction and how it was financed. Indicate whether the transfer was a sale, gift, trade, inheritance, contract of sale, lease creation or assignment, or merger of interests. For sales, describe the financing: assumed loan, new mortgage, or all cash. If personal property such as appliances or equipment was included in the sale price, list its estimated value so the assessor can separate it from the real estate value.
The form also asks whether the property will be your principal residence. A “yes” flags the parcel for the homeowners’ exemption, a $7,000 reduction in taxable value that you claim by filing Form BOE-266 separately with the county assessor.4California State Board of Equalization. Homeowners Exemption
Parent-Child and Grandparent-Grandchild Transfers
If you are receiving a family home or family farm from a parent, child, grandparent, or grandchild, the PCOR is the first step toward preserving the existing tax base under Proposition 19. The rules are tighter than the pre-February 16, 2021 Proposition 58 exclusion. The property must have been the transferor’s principal residence, and you must make it your own principal residence and file for the homeowners’ or disabled veterans’ exemption within one year of the transfer.5California State Board of Equalization. Proposition 19
Grandparent-to-grandchild transfers qualify only if all of the grandchild’s parents who would have been the grandparent’s children are deceased at the time of the transfer.6California State Board of Equalization. Proposition 19 Fact Sheet Intergenerational Transfer Exclusion
There is also a value cap. If the property’s fair market value at transfer exceeds the transferor’s factored base year value by more than an inflation-adjusted threshold, only the portion above that threshold is reassessed. The Board of Equalization set the threshold at $1,044,586 for 2025.7California State Board of Equalization. BOE Adjusts the Proposition 19 $1 Million Intergenerational Transfer Exclusion Amount Checking the correct parent-child or grandparent-grandchild box on the PCOR alerts the assessor, but you still need to file a separate claim, typically Form BOE-19-P, directly with the county assessor to finalize the exclusion.
Filing the Completed Form
File the completed BOE-502-A at the County Recorder’s office at the same time you record the grant deed or other transfer document. In most residential deals the title or escrow company handles this at closing, and the PCOR is recorded with the deed as one package.1California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 480.3
If you record a deed without the PCOR, the recorder may charge an additional $20 fee. The deed itself still gets recorded; the statute is clear that non-compliance does not delay recordation as long as the $20 fee is paid.8California Legislative Information. California Code RTC 480.3 Skipping the PCOR is a false economy, though, because it almost guarantees the assessor will mail you the longer Change of Ownership Statement, which carries much heavier penalties if ignored.
What Happens After You File
The PCOR is a preliminary report. If the assessor needs more information, or if no PCOR was filed at recording, the assessor mails a Change of Ownership Statement under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 480. The COS is mandatory. Once the assessor sends a written request, you have 45 days to return it. Missing that deadline triggers a penalty under Section 482 of the greater of $100 or 10 percent of the taxes on the new base year value. The penalty caps at $5,000 for property eligible for the homeowners’ exemption and $20,000 for other property.9California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 482 A complete, accurate PCOR at recording is the cleanest way to avoid ever receiving the COS.
If the assessor concludes your transfer triggered a reassessment and the new value is higher than the old value, expect a supplemental tax bill covering the difference between the old and new assessed values, prorated for the remainder of the fiscal year.10California State Board of Equalization. Supplemental Assessment Supplemental bills arrive separately from the regular annual tax bill, and both must be paid. You can appeal a supplemental assessment within 60 days of the date the notice was mailed.11California State Board of Equalization. Property Tax Annotations – Supplemental Assessment
Is the Information You Provide Public?
No. Revenue and Taxation Code Section 481 requires the assessor and the Board of Equalization to keep change-in-ownership information secret and bars public inspection of these documents.12California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 481 The recorded deed is public, but the PCOR that accompanies it is not, so the purchase price and financial details you disclose stay between you and the assessor.